In our interview published yesterday, Amy mentioned she’d transcribed a Joy Harjo poem onto a piece of sticker paper and put it on her water bottle. Pretty cool. Today I thought I’d post that poem, “Praise the Rain” by Joy Harjo. Harjo (born 1951) is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and was the U. S. Poet Laureate from 2019 – 2022. She was interviewed on On Being in 2021.
This poem seems like a good one not just to transcribe, but to emulate as a way to juice your poetic brain. Look at the form she’s using here. Note the syntacitc repetitions in each couplet, the exact repetition in the final couplet. What happens there? It’s not just emphasis, right? For me, it calls me back to the rest of the poem. Read, repeat.
Praise the Rain
Praise the rain; the seagull dive
The curl of plant, the raven talk—
Praise the hurt, the house slack
The stand of trees, the dignity—
Praise the dark, the moon cradle
The sky fall, the bear sleep—
Praise the mist, the warrior name
The earth eclipse, the fired leap—
Praise the backwards, upward sky
The baby cry, the spirit food—
Praise canoe, the fish rush
The hole for frog, the upside-down—
Praise the day, the cloud cup
The mind flat, forget it all—
Praise crazy. Praise sad.
Praise the path on which we're led.
Praise the roads on earth and water.
Praise the eater and the eaten.
Praise beginnings; praise the end.
Praise the song and praise the singer.
Praise the rain; it brings more rain.
Praise the rain; it brings more rain.